Travel highlights from 2014 on The Travel Hack

I usually feel sadly nostalgic at the end of the year. It’s another year gone and, even if it’s been an incredible year, there’s something sad about time passing and the years ticking by.

This year I’m trying to be more positive and optimistic, which isn’t hard because I’m so flipping excited about 2015. A new baby, a new house and an empty calendar waiting to be filled with travel adventures!

I like writing a yearly summary post because it reminds me how many awesome things you can squeeze into just one year. It’s so easy to forget what happened in January so I enjoyed searching through my old blog posts to find the highlights.

If you’d like to read more about any of these trips, click on the red text and it will take you to the blog post.

January

I started the year on a healthy foot by attending a bootcamp weekend in Cheltenam Spa. I loved the fact this weekend was about learning to look after yourself in the long term as well as about healthy fixes in the short term.

If you’re into fitness, I’d definitely recommend a yearly bootcamp to keep you on track with your fitness goals. I’m kind of gutted I can’t do one this year due to being 7 months pregnant!

Oslo

I visited Oslo for a weekend to celebrate my boyfriend’s birthday. I loved the city and we enjoyed a snowy weekend exploring the food and bar scene.

A new puppy

Janaury was also a very special month because we got a puppy! This is Little Louie the French Bulldog who is now much bigger and snoring like a pig by my side.

February

I cannot even explain how much I LOVED Copenhagen. I expected to like it but I seriously loved it. It’s so chic and stylish and pretty. It was still freezing when I visited in February but that didn’t ruin the trip at all, if anything it made it better because I could snap photos like this…

I was spoiled rotten on Valentine’s weekend as Sam whisked me off to Port Merion in Wales for a surprise trip. I barely knew anything about this unique little village before visiting and it’s such a surprising and strange little place.

April

Miami was followed by a two-week road tripping adventure with Trek America. We began in LA then went to San Diego, Lake Havasu, the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Yosemite, San Franscico, Big Sur, Santa Barbara and then back to LA. Needless to say, it was epic.

Bruges

At the end of May I had my second favourite trip of the year…a week in Dominica. This little known Caribbean island is the ultimate destination for adventure lovers. It’s an island filled with mountains where you can go hiking up to hot pools or snorkeling in champagne pools. It’s amazing and I had an incredible time.

June

I had prepared myself for a quiet summer but I had a last minute call asking if I’d like to go to Slovenia for a week. Well of course I would!

I was blown away by this beautiful country and loved spending time exploring the capital city of Ljubljana.

July + August

July and August were quiet months as far as travelling goes. I’d planned to spend the summer at home after such a busy first half of the year. It turned out to be a very good idea because I was actually in the early stages of pregnancy. I wasn’t sick during the early stages but I was amazingly tired so I enjoyed this relaxing time at home.

September

Things got busy again in September when I took I took a weeklong European cruise. I travelled around Venice, Dubrovnik, Mykonos and Istanbull with Celebrity Cruises. This was a real foodie week and I loved every minute of it.

Monica is the founder and editor of The Travel Hack. She began the blog in 2009 when she left the UK to travel around Asia and Australia for two years. She's now a professional blogger and has travelled around the world in search of stylish adventure travel.Monica has recently had her second baby and is determined to prove that travelling with a baby is possible!

Sounds like a wonderful year! I loved reading this since I started reading your blog halfway through the year, so it was a great recap of what I’d missed! Can’t wait to hear more about your adventures in 2015, especially with the new addition to your family 🙂 Jessicahttp://www.thebellevoyage.com

What a great year. I really need to travel more. My travel highlight for 2014 was visiting Poland. We went to Auchwitz and Birkenau and they are life changing. Although they still haunt me now. We also went to the salt mine which was incredible. I highly recommend Poland.

Holy smokes, you’ve seen a lot this year!! Incredible. The treehouse looks especially fun, such a different experience! Hope your 2015 is just as exciting, with baby on the way I have no doubt it will be! Also, I want your dog.

The tree house was one of my favourite things I did all year and it was less than an hour from my house. Just shows you don’t need to travel across the world for an amazing holiday. And Louie is a little cutie 🙂

Wow, and I thought I had a busy travel year! Yours was amazing! and to be able to do (some of that) whilst pregnant too! I am curious though, were most of your trips personal or due to / covered by work?

It’s a massive mixture. Because I blog full time there’s always a blurry line between what’s work and what’s personal. Even if it’s a personal trip I still blog about it and often end up writing about it for a freelance client (sometimes even 6 months later) so it’s all a mixture. You probably know this already but, as a travel blogger, there’s no such thing as a holiday!

Wow, how much travel did you manage to fit into a year?!? and such a diverse range of places and experiences. I’m probably one of the few people who did realise you can ski in Spain – my boyfriend and I have skied and snowboarded the Sierra Nevadas (near Granada) for some years now. It’s great because outside the weekends (the Spanish flock in from Friday through to Monday) the resort is so wonderfully quiet 🙂

A fabulous year! And it was lovely to see you way back when at Traverse in Newcastle. I’d love to catch up with you again in 2015 – a baby bloggers meet up maybe! I’m looking forward to getting out and about with my little one! Have a lovely Christmas x

It was great to meet you too! And a baby bloggers meet-up would be amazing. A whole day talking about babies and travel! I hope you have a fabulous Christmas and you enjoy the first one with your little one 🙂 xxx

That picture of Copenhagen just slayed me. How interestingly beautiful. What an excellent year you’ve had. I just love Paris.

Some people hate it and say it’s dirty and too touristy but it will always be magic to me. I just wrote about our visit in December and I think I like it in the winter more than the summer. Very unusual for me.

I was so surprised that so many people hate Paris. How can you hate Paris! It’s interesting about you liking it more in the winter. It must be gorgeous just before Christmas so maybe I need to get a pre-Christmas Paris trip on the wish list!

The Travel Hack is a blog about stylish adventure travel and affordable luxury.

We believe luxurious travel can be affordable and isn't just for the rich. Follow along with our worldwide adventures as we share our trips and tips for incredible travel experiences on a modest budget.